Student housing developer, Unite Group, has submitted a bid to buy Empiric Student Property.
The proposed deal would be worth £719million and would consist of 28% cash. Unite’s offer values each Empiric share at 107p.
A spokesperson for Unite said: “The addition of Empiric’s high-quality, complementary portfolio would create a combined group with enhanced scale and growth aligned to the UK’s strongest universities.”
“With the potential synergies that could be unlocked by Unite’s operating platform, the possible offer has the potential to deliver accretion to earnings and shareholder returns while maintaining balance sheet strength.”
Unite, which posted a turnover of close to £400million for its last financial year, currently owns around 68,000 student beds, while the London-based Empiric currently has around 7,700 beds in its portfolio and recently posted a turnover of £84million.
A spokesperson for Empiric said: “On the basis of the proposal, the board has agreed with Unite to enter an initial period of due diligence. A further announcement will be made as appropriate.”
